SciTechCourse

Overview

Many forms of technology rely on a complex web of inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback.
Complex information can be simplified into streams of binary digits.

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S8.A.3.1 Explain the parts of a simple system, their roles, and their relationships to the system as a whole.

S8.A.3.1.1 Describe a system (e.g., watershed, circulatory system, heating system, agricultural system) as a group of related parts with specific roles that work together to achieve an observed result.
S8.A.3.1.2 Explain the concept of order in a system [e.g., (first to last: manufacturing steps, trophic levels); (simple to complex: cell, tissue, organ, organ system)].
S8.A.3.1.3 Distinguish between system inputs, system processes, system outputs, and feedback (e.g., physical, ecological, biological, informational).
S8.A.3.1.4 Distinguish between open loop (e.g., energy flow, food web) and closed loop (e.g., materials in the nitrogen and carbon cycles, closed-switch) systems.
S8.A.3.1.5 Explain how components of natural and human-made systems play different roles in a working system.

S8.C.2.1 Describe energy sources, transfer of energy, or conversion of energy.

S8.C.2.1.1 Distinguish among forms of energy (e.g., electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, nuclear) and sources of energy (i.e., renewable and nonrenewable energy)
S8.C.2.1.2 Explain how energy is transferred from one place to another through convection, conduction, or radiation.
S8.C.2.1.3 Describe how one form of energy (e.g., electrical, mechanical, chemical, light, sound, nuclear) can be converted into a different form of energy.

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Apply the knowledge of conservation of energy to explain information processing systems.
Apply knowledge of encoding and decoding information in digital devices.
Apply flowcharts and concept maps to the input and output systems of a computer.
Identify the resources necessary for operation of a computer system.
Apply the universal systems model of inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback to a control system (thermostat).
Analyze color in terms of additive systems (monitor).
Analyze color in terms of subtractive systems (printer).

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Bar Code Activity
"Dissect" a computer mouse
Breadboard Investigations
Thermostat Investigation (bimetallic switch circuit)
Fiber Optics Kits
CD Player "Dissection"
photocell Investigation (demonstrate photoconductivity with cadmium sulfide cells and multimeters; show Dave's Whizzy Periodic Table for the concept of electron shells; show Conductivity phet sim; refer to Cadmium, Sulfur, and Cadmium sulfide articles on Wikipedia to show molecules have different properties than their atomic constituents.

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